NOVEMBER 9, 1959

DE KALB, Ill.
Sunday—I noticed a story in one of our metropolitan newspapers, the other day, about a judge
in Tennessee who had ordered the Highlander Folk School administration building to
be re-opened. It had been padlocked on charges that at one time it had allowed beer
to be sold there. The public prosecutor in Tennessee however, is doing his best to
have Highlander Folk School's license as a school revoked. They have had this license
for 28 years and were training both colored and white labor leaders and organizers,
as well as holding many other seminars.

Repeated efforts have been made through the years to harm these people. The basic
reasons are, first, the fear of trained labor leaders, who seem to be considered a
menace in the South; and second, the fact of integration in all their meetings at
the school. The first effort made to discredit the school was a charge of Communist
activities. No proof could be found by the court and the case was thrown out. The
current effort was to declare the school a public nuisance by alleging that rowdy
meetings were held there and that drinking went on. I have been there only once, when
I saw nothing stronger than fruit punch. But people who have been there many times
assure me that there was never any drinking and the amount of liquor on the premises
at any time was extremely moderate.

Everyone who knows the school attests to the fact that the colored woman who is educational
director, Mrs. Septima Clark, is a fine person and also one of the most intelligent
that could be found to fill this position. She was arrested last summer in a raid
which has since been declared illegal. Three other instructors who were there for
the summer were held for being drunk. In a column not long ago I described how one
of them came to tell me about the incident. His mother happens to be a Southern lady
who wanted him to have the experience of teaching in this school. None of those arrested
had been drinking, but they were nevertheless declared drunk and held overnight in
jail before being allowed to post bail the next morning. In the raid they searched
Mr. Myles Horton's house but found very little liquor.

It would be easy for Mr. Horton, who could get work elsewhere without difficulty,
to give up the school. But he is trying to prove the principle of the right of people
who want a certain kind of education to receive it without discrimination. This, after
all, is in accordance with the Supreme Court order for public schools.

It is shocking to me that any state in the Union, in order to circumvent a principle
which the Supreme Court has laid down, should try to trump up false charges and hound
reputable citizens. These people may not be doing what some of their neighbors approve
of, but they are trying to carry out what they consider the right thing for their
country and to live up to their own ideals. This should command respect everywhere.